A/Prof Michael Ryan is the Director of the Capability Systems Centre (CSC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), at Canberra. He holds bachelor, masters and doctor of philosophy degrees in engineering. In addition, he has completed two years formal engineering management training in the United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) in electrical and ITEE colleges, a Senior Member of IEEE (SMIEEE), a Fellow of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (FIML). He has over 35 years of experience in communications engineering, systems engineering, project management, and management. Since joining UNSW, he has lectured in a range of subjects including communications and information systems, systems engineering, requirements engineering and project management and he regularly consults in those fields. He is the author/co-author of 12 books, three book chapters, and over a 200 refereed journal and conference papers.

The Capability Systems Centre (CSC), UNSW’s only Industry Centre, which undertakes research and education in a range of disciplinary areas relevant to the delivery of capability systems and systems acquisition: systems science, systems thinking, complex systems, system of systems, systems engineering, requirements engineering, and project management. The Centre currently has 11 staff members and six post-doctoral researchers.

A/Prof Ryan’s research is recognised internationally in a number of domains and has attracted over $4.7 million in external research grants and over $800 thousand in teaching grants. His role as a research supervisor was recognised in 2015 with an ARC Postgraduate Council Supervisor Award. He has acted as reviewer for a number of international journals and conferences and was the Editor-in-Chief of an international refereed journal (ERA2010 C), for eighteen years. For the last 11 years, he has been the conference chair of two major annual international conferences.

A/Prof Ryan’s teaching has involved the development and delivery of six undergraduate courses, nine postgraduate courses and five postgraduate programs. His teaching has been recognised by a Faculty commendation for teaching excellence in 2008, and a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2015. He has a Category 1 teaching grant for over $670K for the development of a tertiary education program in satellite systems engineering.
He regularly delivers/co-delivers professional development courses in basic communications principles; satellite communications; project management; systems engineering; requirements practice; capability development; and addressing complex problems. A/Prof Ryan also co-delivers UNSW’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)—Introduction to Systems Engineering—which is a great success with over 65,000 students in its first three offerings, and is now in continuous offering. He also delivers the Requirements Writing MOOC, which has been in continuous offering since 2017.

Since 2012, A/Prof Ryan has been a Chair of the Requirements Working Group (RWG) of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). INCOSE has approximately 10,000 members in 62 countries and is the single international body with oversight of systems engineering and its constituent disciplines. The RWG is responsible for defining the body of knowledge of requirements engineering, which is perhaps the most important aspect of systems engineering. As Chair of the RWG, A/Prof Ryan has been the principal driver, and co-author, of the Guide for Writing Requirements which now represents the international guidance by which requirements are written and stored in requirements management tools. As Chair of the RWG, he has also contributed to the INCOSE efforts in rewriting the international standards ISO/IEC15288 and IEEE29148, Chapter 4 of the INCOSE Handbook, and the online SE Body of Knowledge (SEBoK). During his tenure as chair, the RWG has received three INCOSE awards (in 2012, 2015 and 2018) for sustained performance.

Rehman OU; Ryan M, 2018, 'Development of a Control Theoretic Based Simulation Model of a Supply and Distribution System with Reusable Items', in 2018 European Control Conference, ECC 2018, pp. 2989 - 2994, presented at , 10.23919/ECC.2018.8550292

Ryan M; Wheatcraft L, 2017, 'On the Use of the Terms Verification and Validation', in On the Use of the Terms Verification and Validation, 27th Annual International INCOSE Symposium, Adelaide, presented at 27th Annual International INCOSE Symposium, Adelaide, 17 - 20 July 2017

El Sawah S; McLucas A; Ryan M, (eds.), 2015, 'Generic and reusable structure in systems dynamics modelling: roadmap of literature and future research questions', in Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, presented at Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 19 - 23 July 2015, http://www.systemdynamics.org/conferences/2015/proceed/index.html

El Sawah SA; Ryan MJ; McLucas AC, 2015, 'Beyond why to what and how: the use of systems thinking to support problem formulation in systems engineering applications', in Proceedings of the 21st International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2015),, he 21st International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2015), Gold Coast, Australia, presented at he 21st International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2015), Gold Coast, Australia, 29 November - 04 December 2015

Efatmaneshnik M; Ryan M, 2014, 'Failure propagation in SoS: Why SoS should be loosely coupled', in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on System of Systems Engineering: The Socio-Technical Perspective, SoSE 2014, pp. 49 - 54, presented at , 10.1109/SYSOSE.2014.6892462

Ryan, (ed.), 2014, 'The Role of Stakeholders in Requirements Elicitation', in 24th Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE 2014), International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Las Vegas, presented at 24th Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE 2014), Las Vegas, 30 June - 03 July 2014, http://www.incose.org/symp2014/

Jones BL; Ryan MJ, 2013, 'On an Appropriate Set of Characteristics for the Structure of Upper-level Standards When Used to Establish Business Environments', in 23rd Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering, INCOSE 2013, pp. 567 - 578, presented at

Ryan MJ, 2013, 'An Improved Taxonomy for Major Needs and Requirements Artifacts', in 23rd Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering, INCOSE 2013, pp. 552 - 566, presented at

Ryan MJ, 2011, 'On the use of a system need statement in functional decomposition', in 21st Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering, INCOSE 2011, pp. 54 - 66, presented at

El Sawah S; McLucas A; Ryan M, 2010, 'Understanding the complex system dynamics of managing water security', in 20th Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering, INCOSE 2010, pp. 339 - 353, presented at

Ryan MJ; Frater MR, 2000, 'A Modern Tactical Communications Architecture for the Australian Army', in A Modern Tactical Communications Architecture for the Australian Army, Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, presented at Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, 26 - 28 July 2000

Ryan MJ; Frater MR, 2000, 'The Utility of a Tactical Airborne Communications Sub-system in Support of Future Land Warfare', in The Utility of a Tactical Airborne Communications Sub-system in Support of Future Land Warfare, Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, presented at Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, 26 - 28 July 2000

Frater MR; Ryan MJ, 2000, 'The Impact of Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons (RF DEW) on the Modern Battlefield', in The Impact of Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons (RF DEW) on the Modern Battlefield, Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, presented at Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, 26 - 28 July 2000

Frater MR; Ryan MJ, 2000, 'The Impact of Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons (RF DEW) on the Modern Battlefield', in The Impact of Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons (RF DEW) on the Modern Battlefield, European Electronic Battlespace (Land) Symposium, Shrivenham, United Kingdom, presented at European Electronic Battlespace (Land) Symposium, Shrivenham, United Kingdom, 12 - 14 September 2000

Ryan MJ; Frater MR, 2000, 'A Modern Tactical Communication System for the Australian Army', in A Modern Tactical Communication System for the Australian Army, European Electronic Battlespace (Land) Symposium, Shrivenham, United Kingdom, presented at European Electronic Battlespace (Land) Symposium, Shrivenham, United Kingdom, 12 - 14 September 2000

Frater MR; Ryan MJ; Pickering MR, 2000, 'The Utility of an Area Planning Tool for Visualising the Terrain Sensitivity of Radio Communications', in The Utility of an Area Planning Tool for Visualising the Terrain Sensitivity of Radio Communications, 2000 Land Warfare Conference, Melbourne, presented at 2000 Land Warfare Conference, Melbourne, 16 - 18 October 2000

Ryan MJ; Barwise R; Frater MR, 2000, 'On the Automation of Land CIS Planning', in On the Automation of Land CIS Planning, Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, presented at Australian Battlespace Digitisation Symposium, Salisbury, 26 - 28 July 2000